The European Commission published today the latest report on protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in third countries. While developments have taken place since the publication of the previous report, concerns persist and a number of areas for improvement and action remain to be addressed. Intellectual property rights infringements worldwide cost European firms billions of euros in lost revenue and put thousands of jobs at risk. Today's report identifies three groups of countries on which the EU will focus...

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced the appointments of Petra Senkovic as Director General Secretariat and Secretary to ECB decision-making bodies, and Pedro Gustavo Teixeira as Director General Secretariat to the Supervisory Board and Secretary to the Supervisory Board. Ms Senkovic, 49, is currently Director General Secretariat and Secretary to the Supervisory Board, a post she has held since November 2015. Prior to that she was Deputy Director General of the ECB Legal Services and worked at a private law...

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced the appointments of Petra Senkovic as Director General Secretariat and Secretary to ECB decision-making bodies, and Pedro Gustavo Teixeira as Director General Secretariat to the Supervisory Board and Secretary to the Supervisory Board. Ms Senkovic, 49, is currently Director General Secretariat and Secretary to the Supervisory Board, a post she has held since November 2015. Prior to that she was Deputy Director General of the ECB Legal Services and worked at a private law...

On 10 December 2019, the EU's European Research Council (ERC) announced the winners of its latest Consolidator Grant competition: 301 top scientists and scholars across Europe. Funding for these researchers, part of the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, is worth in total €600 million. With this support, the new grantees will have a chance to build up their teams and have far-reaching impact. The grantees will carry out their projects at universities and research centres in 24 different countries across Europe,...

The European Securities and Markets Regulator (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, today publishes a study on the market impacts of circuit breakers. Sudden and drastic price swings in financial markets can be a source of market instability and are a concern for market participants, supervisors and regulators. Circuit breakers are key instruments used by trading venues to regulate markets and interrupt excessive price movements. Based on Morningstar Real Time data ESMA has created a unique database of circuit breakers triggered between 1...

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published, today, its 2019 Consumer Trends Report outlining major developments in the insurance and pensions sectors affecting European consumers. Improvements in disclosure practices have been seen and digitalisation remains a broadly noteworthy trend, showing that financial innovations can bring benefits for both insurers and consumers, so long as they are adequately designed and properly implemented. Accident and health insurance products continue being 'good value-for-money', with the medical expense line of business having the highest claims...

December 12 - At today’s meeting the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.50% respectively. The Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until it has seen the inflation outlook robustly converge to a level sufficiently close to,...

On 12 December, EU leaders discussed climate change, the EU's long-term budget and external relations, among other issues. On 13 December, they focused on the economic and monetary union and Brexit. Climate change EU leaders endorsed the objective of making the EU climate-neutral by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement. They underlined that the transition to climate neutrality will bring significant opportunities for economic growth, markets, jobs and technological development. Poland, at this stage, could not commit to implementing this objective, which is why the European Council will come...